It was an hour before we were due to be picked up. My friend Leila and I had booked in for a cooking class with the very popular Paon Bali Cooking School. We were relaxing by the pool, enjoying the cool that a dip in the water brings when the humidity is high and the sun is out. Then from …

You’re in Ho Chi Minh City. You stop at an intersection. You need to cross the road. But there’s no little green man to send you across… And the zebra crossings? Don’t even think about it – no drivers pay attention to those. The motorbikes are coming at you as a never-ending mass of noisy, impatient riders. How do you …

In planning a trip to Myanmar, you hear a few tales about the difficulties travellers have with transport… With accommodation… With money… Or, well, generally with everything. It’s this country that hasn’t been in the centre of tourism for all that long, and isn’t yet set up for handling the number of us making our way into the country. I …

Before plunging into the depths of the underwater world for the first time (or at least to 18 metres anyway – you’re only starting out, after all), people experience a hint of fear… Or sometimes full-blown fear that keeps them popping up to the surface… It’s ok. I get it. It’s this strange new world you’re entering, and it just …

Growing up as a kid, it’s almost a rite of passage to have at least a small fascination with dinosaurs. You learn about the long-necked brachiosaurus, the strong triceratops, the speedy velociraptors and the terrifying T-rex. We watch movies. We have toys. There’s a fascination with these long extinct creatures that overtakes us as children. Understandably then, when I was …